Games Iced As Strike Hits Hockey

Nhl Strike Putting Hockey Season On Ice

The Hartford Whalers skated at their Avon Old Farms School practice rink Wednesday morning, just as they have almost every morning since the start of training camp in September.

But when they stepped off the ice a little before noon, no one knew when they would be back. Their game against the Flyers in Philadelphia tonight is off, as is the rest of the National Hockey League schedule.

The Whalers joined the rest of the NHL players in walking off the job Wednesday at 3 p.m., an hour before they were to board a flight for Philadelphia. The strike was called after contract negotiations between the owners and players failed to produce an agreement.

"There will be no games tonight," said NHL Players Association Executive Director Bob Goodenow, who announced at a news conference in Toronto that the players had voted 560-4 in favor of a strike.

NHL President John Ziegler then released a written statement suspending the season "on a day-to-day basis until further notice."

Despite the strike, negotiations between the players' association and the owners were held Wednesday night in Toronto. The talks broke off four hours after they began.

Three games scheduled Wednesday night -- the New York Islanders at the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Washington Capitals at the New Jersey Devils and the Winnipeg Jets at the San Jose Sharks -- were not played.

The Whalers have three games remaining in the regular season. In addition to tonight's game, the strike has put in doubt the final home game Saturday afternoon against the Flyers and the season finale Sunday at Boston.

In all, 30 NHL games are on hold. And, if an agreement is not reached soon, the Stanley Cup playoffs scheduled to begin Wednesday also are in jeopardy.

A policy on ticket refunds -- if necessary -- will be announced in the next few days.

"I think, at this point, they have four or five days to get it hammered out [before the strike affects the playoffs]," Whalers

player representative Pat Verbeek said at a 3 p.m. press conference outside the practice rink in Avon.

"I would have to think if this is not resolved in the short period here, that this could be a long-term situation," Whalers general manager Ed Johnston said at a 4 p.m. press conference at the Hartford Civic Center. "There's no doubt in my mind this could be a long-term situation and really nobody benefits when that occurs."

This is the first players' strike in a major professional sports league since National Football League players went on strike for 24 days midway through the 1987 season. The last time a major league schedule was put in doubt was in 1990, when Major League Baseball owners locked out teams for 32 days during spring training.

This is the first time players in any league have gone on strike a week before playoffs were scheduled to begin.

The timing is meant to hurt the NHL owners. In the NHL, most players are paid in full during the regular season -- the Whalers collected their final regular-season paycheck Tuesday.

The owners realize most of their profits in the playoffs.

The players had been working this season under the old collective bargaining agreement, which expired Sept. 15. Negotiating sessions last week failed to produce an agreement, and talks broke off early Sunday morning.

The NHL Board of Governors met in Chicago Sunday and voted unanimously to reject the players' final proposal. The players' association, which had set a Monday strike deadline, postponed it until Wednesday to hold a team-by-team vote.

"The vote results prove the players' dissatisfaction with the owners' final offer," Goodenow said. "A vote to reject was a vote to strike by 3 p.m. April 1, 1992."

Among the key issues unresolved are salary arbitration, licensing and endorsements, pensions, dispute resolution and free agency. Underlying those issues is disagreement between the sides over how much money the league will make or lose this season and in the future.

"We tried our best to get as close as we did to the owners' proposal," Verbeek said. "We thought we went that extra mile. We went probably a lot closer to their proposal than they came toward ours. They rejected it and in turn resubmitted their last offer. As you saw the vote, the players weren't too happy or excited about their proposal.

"It's upsetting we had to come to this point," Verbeek said. "We like to play hockey; we actually love to play hockey. We're getting paid very well to do it. To let the fans down at probably the most exciting time of the year, it's disappointing. I think that's what disappoints the players the most."

Verbeek has advised the Whalers to remain in the area in hopes an agreement can be reached in the next few days.

Whalers owner Richard Gordon said he could lose between $400,000 and $500,000 if Saturday's game at the Civic Center is canceled.

But that's nothing compared to what the city could lose.

"Obviously, if they don't play, then you'll see what the effect of a prolonged strike is," Gordon said. "Nobody will be in the Civic Center. And nobody will be in the restaurants. I think it will be kind of like what happened when the roof caved in [in 1978].